1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to containers, and more particularly to a wide-mouthed container with an easy-to-open closure used for pressure packing of various liquid, solid and semisolid products, such as beer, carbonated soft drink and tennis balls.
2. Prior Art
There are known various types of wide-mouthed containers used for pressure packing of beer, carbonated soft drink, tennes balls and the like. The known containers generally comprise a pressure-resistant, impervious container body composed of a can, bottle or jar, and a closure for closing an opening or mouth of the container body.
The glass bottle is closed with a crown cap which is lined with a cork or a thin film of rubber like composition. When the edge of the crown cap is crimped over the mouth of the bottle, the cork or rubber composition provides a tight, gasket-like seal. To open the bottle, a cap-opener is necessay.
The can is made of tin-coated steel plate or aluminum plate. The thin-coated steel can body is side-seamed and flanged at both ends. Then one end of the can body is sealed with an end disk; the other end is sealed when the can is filled. On the other hand, the aluminum can body is drawn from a can blank into a generally cup shape having a flange at its open end. For packing, each of the can bodies is closed with an end disk having a curled rim which is machine-folded with the end flange of the can body. When the can is to be opened, a tedious operation is necessary because a can-opener is still required. The can thus opened is not reusable without reconstruction. Consequently, most used can bodies are recovered for re-casing, however, this recycling system requires additional cost. The rest of the used can bodies are simply dumped, which leads to an environmental polution and waste of raw materials.
With the foregoing drawbacks in view, the present inventor has proposed a wide-mouthed container having an easy-to-open closure. The proposed closure, as disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 56-28787, is composed of a rigid outer closure member and a resilient inner closure member joined together by a series of narrow connector portions extending through small apertures in the outer closure member and interconnecting the inner closure member and a narrow strip overlying the obverse side of the outer closure member. To close the container, the edge of the outer closure member is crimped over the mouth of a container body so as to provide a hermetic seal between the inner closure member and the container body. When the container is to be opened, the strip is pulled to separate the outer closure member from the inner closure member, thereby detaching the inner closure member from the container body.
The container thus constructed is advantageous in that with the provision of the resilient inner closure member, the container body is free from damage and hence is reusable. However, the container has a drawback that the inner closure member exposed to a pressurized gas in the container is not fully impervious to gas, allowing leakage of the pressurized gas therethrough from the container. With this leakage, degrading of the packed product would result.